(NOAH) EVENT RECAP: PREMIUM PRELUDE, 2020 (Tuesday 1st December, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)

The last Korakuen Hall before Noah's final anniversary show of its 20th year, had fans hurrying to finish work in time and then make the commute to Suidobashi station and on across the bridge to Korakuen Hall. No one if they could help it wanted to miss this event. There was a sense of anticipation in the air, everyone had a feeling that something was going to happen. 

Inside Korakuen, Noah had set up the merchandise booth where fans could purchase limited edition items (mainly products signed by Momo No Seishun or the increasingly insane, FULL THROTTLE). ABEMA streamed the show, which if you did miss, you can view for seven days from today, but after that it will be placed on WRESTLEUNIVERSE (which you must be a subscriber to view). There was no Jurina Matsui or Kuniko Yamada on commentary today, but a Japanese comedian, Bibiru Ōki, stepped in. 

MATCH ONE

FULL THROTTLE (Seiki Yoshioka, YO-HEY & Hajime Ohara) vs Junta Miyawaki, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

Junta Miyawaki, now the most senior out of his team, was the one who WALKED sedately to the ring, leaving young Yasutaka Yano and the returning ex W-1 trainee, Kai Fujimura, to run ahead. Miyawaki might be the leader of his team, and thanks to the three way held a few days earlier to decide who would be at the steering wheel of FULL THROTTLE, Hajime Ohara was the leader of his. He had his eyes firmly on the new boy, even going so far as to call him out, and when he did get him he tied him into submission hell. It was an energetic opener, with the flavor of old Noah in that it mixed a team of the younger with a team of the older, although perhaps not to the extent that the broken down old vets were wheeled out. 

Naturally, FULL THROTTLE as the veteran team dominated, but the younger team did have their moments; Miyawaki in particular had good offence and did his string of dropkicks that kept FULL THROTTLE out of the ring. Being not as experienced as the other teams who usually face FULL THROTTLE, it was easy for FULL THROTTLE to keep them apart and out of the ring most of the time. It was also noted that Miyawaki is still very shy with his seniors. Yano shows signs of being a little more outgoing, he even shoved Seiki Yoshioka back, although he got kicked down.

YO-HEY as ever, looked as if he was having the time of his life. 

WINNER: YO-HEY with the Camel Clutch on Yasutaka Yano (12 minutes, 45 seconds)

As they left the ring, YO-HEY started doing a kind of hopping dance while holding the FULL THROTTLE pose, Hajime Ohara joined in. Seiki Yoshioka did not, and stood and watched them. The dance continued outside the ring and during the walk to the back. 

MATCH TWO

Mohammed Yone & Yuko Miyamoto

"The veteran singles match"

Mohammed Yone started with a bow, Yuko Miyamoto laughed and did not bow back. What ties these two together was that their early career involved FMW; Mohammed Yone was in the promotion from September 1998 until May 1999, and Yuko Miyamoto had been trained by FMW wrestlers. But like everyone else, Miyamoto does not appreciate disco, although he pulled "Disco Fever" to mock Yone.

WINNER: Yuko Miyamoto with La Mahistral (10 minutes, 21 seconds)

MATCH THREE

Momo No Seishun (Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge) vs The Kongoh Juniors (Haoh & Tadasuke)

The Kongoh Juniors attacked the moment that Momo No Seishun (or Daisuke Harada in particular), set foot in the ring, they were still in their t-shirts once the match got going. Tadasuke as ever was the crafty villain, and was on top form in the match; the crazy faces, the eye rakes, and his awesome heavyweight power came to the fore, lariating Daisuke Harada so hard at one point you could see the impact on the ringside camera (he also apparently has a new one which goes to the back of the head\neck). Harada was as brilliant as ever. 

Atsushi Kotoge's job was very much in keeping Haoh out of the way so that Harada and Tadasuke could fight, and when he wasn't doing that, he was backing up Harada. 

WINNER: Tadasuke with the lariat on Daisuke Harada (10 minutes, 32 seconds)

Harada was calm after the defeat by Tadasuke (Tadasuke kind of won it on pure momentum), and he sat quietly and listened to what Tadasuke had to say. No tantrums or throwing chairs (which Harada is prone to when he gets really angry, and he left the steel barrier alone on the way out and didn't kick it), what Tadasuke had to say was mocking. He told Harada that if he (Tadasuke) had been "number four" (in RATELS) then Harada was "number 18" in the Noah juniors; what Tadasuke means is that out of everyone, Harada is the lowest number possible, even lower than the rookie Yano. Then, smiling his manic smile, Tadasuke left the ring. Unlike all the other titles being defended on the 6th December, Tadasuke and Harada still have one final night to even any scores before the title match. 

MATCH FOUR

Kongoh (Kenoh & Nioh) vs The Sugiura Army (Kazushi Sakuraba & NOSAWA Rongai)

From the moment Kazushi Sakuraba got in the ring, Kenoh started stalking his every movement, and then yelling loudly. Naturally they started the match with stiff kicks, and Kenoh slapped Sakuraba on the first rope break, which he no doubt thought was firing him up. When fighting Sakuraba (and I think this was probably part of the reason that Kenoh wanted Kiyoshi Tamura), Kenoh got to use a lot of his martial arts background Nippon Kempo, which shares a lot of similarities with MMA, so much so that Kenoh commented on it afterwards.

WINNER: Kazushi Sakuraba with the Back triangle cross lock on Nioh (8 minutes, 17 seconds

The final pre-match between the two ended with either failing to get a win over the other, which led to Kenoh throwing one of his verbal tantrums as he got on the microphone, and started screaming at Sakuraba, first asking about his using Nippon Kempo and then accusing Sakuraba of not taking the match seriously, and then he touched on the PRIDE era asking where all the intensity that Sakuraba had felt then had gone? 

Sakuraba, listened patiently and then made the "Time Out" motion, before picking up the mic himself, however, it wasn't on. He screamed like Kenoh, and then left the ring. Kenoh was not impressed and they had a row on the apron, Kenoh worked up and Sakuraba winding him up. NOSAWA thought it was very funny. On leaving the ring, Kenoh looked like he was going to storm to his room and slam some doors.

Noah took a small interval here to make some announcements. The first being was that the Noah's Ark fan club has overgone a complete overhaul, with the logo being redesigned and the perks for members being updated. After that they announced the full card for The Sugiura Army produce. There will be a special broadcast of the after show party, with the custom made belts that Sugiura and Sakuraba wear being given away in a prize draw, and a mystery member will be taking part in the main event, a fourteen man elimination tag which will see The Sugiura Army (plus Daisuke Nakamura, another MMA fighter) take on Kongoh. 

MATCH FIVE

STINGER (Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA) & Kinya Okada vs Naomichi Marufuji, Kotaro Suzuki & Sarubahe de Oriente

Kotaro & Sarubahe attacked the moment the bell went.Now this was unfortunate as it left rookie Kinya Okada to attack the veteran, Naomichi Marufuji (probably not ideal), although to his credit Okada did manage to knock him down twice and held his own while a melee fight was going on outside. If the match was tough for Okada, it was even more tough in a way for Yoshinari Ogawa, who was hook punched by Kotaro, and chopped down by Marufuji. Marufuji seemed angry at STINGER for how they had treated Kotaro, but nevertheless as ever, he loved fighting with and against the Noah Juniors. Ogawa got his own back by torturing Okada and then making sure (along with HAYATA) that Kotaro was not going to get the chance to get any kind of upper hand. 

Sarubahe was better than he was the last time he was in Noah, and appeared much more confident, and young Okada put up a great fight against Kotaro. 

WINNER: Kotaro Suzuki with The Tiger Driver on Kinya Okada (12 minutes, 48 seconds)

With Kotaro getting the win, Ogawa saw red and started fighting after the match, which HAYATA then joined in with. Then the proverbial bad penny, NOSAWA Rongai appeared. NOSAWA was not alone this time, he had bought his own mysterious masked person with him. NOSAWA'S companion was masked, and wore a hood and a black long sleeved jacket, only his hands were visible. He did not speak afterwards, which gives the impression that either he is a silent wrestler, or Japanese is not his native language. NOSAWA (and friend) got into the ring to save Kotaro, but that wasn't really his mission. Kotaro didn't want his help, so what about aligning with STINGER? NOSAWA is not looking to leave The Sugiura Army, he just wants muscle as they don't really have a junior presence, the only regular junior being him, and so he asked STINGER for a handshake. Ogawa told him to get lost, and STINGER left the ring. I have no idea why NOSAWA has asked Noah's most reclusive tag team for an alliance, but knowing NOSAWA, he won't take "get lost" for an answer.  

MATCH SIX

Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura & Daiki Inaba vs Kongoh (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya & Manabu Soya)

Katsuhiko Nakajima with a big grin, started the match against Kaito Kiyomiya. This was one of the first times since the dissolution of THE AGGRESSION in 2018, that he and Masa Kitamiya had teamed together so closely, there was a sense of distance at first, but this was gradually papered over as Kongoh started to realise that they had new rivals; Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura and Daiki Inaba. Nakajima naturally had a bone to pick with both Inamura and Inaba; Inamura as he wanted revenge for the walking brainbuster that Inamura had given him previously, and Inaba as he was the one who Nakajima had defeated for the W-1 Championship, a belt that Nakajima didn't want, but enjoyed going to W-1 and causing trouble. Inaba hasn't forgotten it, and Nakajima went so far as to refer him to him as being the "newcomer" who had changed since he last met him in the ring. 

Yoshiki Inamura and Masa Kitamiya had a shoulder tackle battle, which ended with Inamura knocking Kitamiya down and then slamming him. Fans want Inamura to take the next step and change his ring attire and hair (they miss the Mohawk).

WINNER: Kaito Kiyomiya with the Tiger Suplex Hold on Manabu Soya (17 minutes, 31 seconds)

There was a moment after the match when the three teams stood and stared at each other, and something unsaid passed between them; this wasn't over. Nakajima left grinning and looking closely at Inaba, which usually means he has had another one of his evil ideas. 

Backstage and bolstered by their win, Kaito Kiyomiya suggested to Yoshiki Inamura, that they should challenge for the GHC Heavyweight tag titles. If they do challenge, I am expecting the statement to take place either in Yoyogi or Nagoya. 

MATCH SEVEN

Go Shiozaki & Shuhei Taniguchi vs The Sugiura Army (Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki)

Hideki Suzuki and Shuhei Taniguchi started the match, both drawing on their amateur wrestling and judo backgrounds, this was most obvious in the style of the lock up and the attempted take downs. Their later interactions were a pure Hoss fight, with Monster Taniguchi emerging from his cave. 

Between Takashi Sugiura and Go Shiozaki, the match grew red hot as they fought for the final time in true "Golden Era" style (although they will pull out the big hits for the 6th December), Shiozaki determined to show Sugiura that he was going to "give him more" that Sugiura had taunted him with after choking him out in Ibaraki. Sugiura might be older than Shiozaki, and his senior, but the fact is is that Sugiura is in far better shape, and once again Shiozaki's arms became the target with both Suzuki and Sugiura working on them. Suzuki's style was different from Nakajima's previously, and different from Sugiura's, as he applied lock holds which worked not just on Shiozaki's arms, but his hands too. Shiozaki attempted at one point to chop Suzuki, who simply punched his arm away, but with a very Kenta Kobashi like grimace, Shiozaki kept going. His arms are damaged, the right worse than the left, but he refuses to admit the fact saying backstage that he is the GHC Heavyweight Champion, and therefore, he cannot allow anything to be wrong as he champion has to always appear in great shape.

WINNER: Go Shiozaki with the short range Gowan lariat on Takashi Sugiura (22 minutes, 55 seconds)

Takashi Sugiura had rolled out of the ring and limped off, but he paused by the cream curtains on one side of the hall to listen as Shiozaki addressed him;

"Takashi Sugiura! Your 20 years! I will rob you of it and stand in the ring at the end of the 6th December! I AM NOAH, and I will not be destroyed!"

With thanks to: Metal Noah, ABESHIN

GIF's taken from ABEMA

Noah's next show: Saturday 6th December, NOAH the BEST ~FINAL CHRONICLE 2020